Forum addresses terrorism

As U.S. troops raided Falluja Friday afternoon, IU students gathered at the Indiana Memorial Union to dissect terrorism and the war on terror.\n"I know it was a bit ambitious," said David Baker, forum co-coordinator and graduate student. "But I wanted to see what IU students had to say on these issues, whether they were apathetic or not."\nBaker and the forum's other co-coordinator freshman Mohamed Yunus Rafiq broke the discussion into three panels on broad topics such as public discourse on terrorism, America's security consumption and consequences and international perspectives.\n"Since he is a Christian American and I am a Muslim African, we thought we could present some interesting angles," Rafiq said.\nAbout 1 p.m., Baker approached a microphone at the front table of the Frangipani Room, looked out into the room and welcomed the sparse audience of just fewer than 20 people for coming. After a few opening remarks, the forum began.\nBaker said he and Rafiq obtained their panelists by e-mailing various departments and student organizations that might have had an interest in the topics, but only students, either graduate or undergraduate were allowed onto the panels.\n"When you get an expert, there is really no discussion," Rafiq said. "With a student thing you can go from the bottom up."\nThe forum's panelists offered a variety of views on multiple aspects of the war in Iraq and terrorism, from personal army experience to how other countries view the United States, and its actions against terror. \n"How come we don't think of the U.S. as a threat to other securities?" asked graduate student and panelist Paritosh Srivastava.\nSome panelists simply wanted to have the audience question their way of thinking.\n"I really wanted to get people to think about how emotional the topic of terrorism is," said graduate student and panelist David Schwab. \nThe topic of terrorism proved to be emotional for some audience members who compared President George W. Bush to former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, and who conveyed their frustration with the panelist's viewpoints.\n"What makes the United States think it can get on its high horse and tell Iraq what to do?" Zaineb Istrabadi, a professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from Iraq who attended the forum because she had multiple students speaking, asked the third panel.\nAnother panelist, graduate student Jonathan Sauer said while he was happy to participate in the forum, he wasn't sure how effective it was.\n"I kind of feel like I'm preaching to the choir," Sauer said. "The people looking for alternative perspectives are already here. We're not reaching the people who need to hear this; the people who are dead set in their ways."\nAlthough Baker was pleased with the afternoon, he was disappointed with the student turnout. \n"Americans and IU students need to recognize their role in legitimizing the War on Terror," Baker said. "It's unfortunate that people aren't being more proactive."\nThe total number of audience members throughout the four and a half hour forum was almost 100, Baker said.\n"It's really important to turn off the video games and talk about democracy," Schwab said.\n-- Contact senior writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.